Method and apparatus for valving bags



July 2, 19290 c. H. HARTMAN METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VALVING BAGS FiledMay 10, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet MM E, W294 G. M. MARTMAN MWWWWW METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR VALVING BAGS Filed May 10, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 carHartman.

July 2, 1929. c. H. HARTMAN METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VALVING BAGS 3Sheets Sheer. 5

Filed May 10, 1928 Carl H/iartman abbommqb Patented July 2, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1,719,009 PATENT orrics.

CARL H. HARTMAN, OF I TOLEDO, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MEFSNE ASSIGNMENTS, TOST. REGIS PAPER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VALVING BAGS.

Application filed May 10,

"This invention relates to a. method. and apparatus for'folding in thecorners of lengths of paper tubes in order to form valves in bags madefrom the tubes.

The method and apparatus for carrying out the method disclosed andclaimed in this application are particularly adapted for receiving tubes,cut from a continuous length of tubing, each cut-ofi' section havingone corner particularly adapted for forming a valve, this corner beingdillerently located on successive sections. In order to accomplish thispurpose the apparatus comprises two valving devices and means fordirecting sections received from a cutting machine or similar sourcealternately to the two valving devices.

Details of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, T-iure l is a plan View of apparatus in accor ance with this invention;Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, as viewedfrom the right of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the apparatusviewed from the end opposite to that which receives the sections; Flgs.4, 5 and 6 are partial sections on the lines M, 55 and 66 of Fig.1.

Some of the parts are omitted from the plan view and some from each ofthe elevations in order to more clearly disclose other parts.

The apparatus shown in the drawings is mounted upon a base 10. At thereceiving end of the apparatus there is a bracket 11 mounted upon thebase 10 and having bearings 12; There are supplemental base sections 13and 14 fitting upon base 10'by means of dove-tail slideways 15.- A screw16 connects base sections 13 and 14 so that they may beadjustedlaterally upon base 10, the screw having right andleft-hand threads sothat turning the screw brings sections 13 and 14 nearertogethcr orseparates them.

Mounted upon base 13 there is a supporting frame 17, and a similarsupporting frame 18 is mounted upon base 14. Frame 17 is connected tobase 13 by means of a dove-tail guide 19 and frame 18 is connected tobase .14 b a dove-tail guide 20. Mounted on frame 17 there is an uppertable 21 having a valving device 22 arranged alon side thereof.

- The detailsof this valving evice are not 1928. Serial No. 276,521.

disclosed in this application, as its exact construction is not a partof this invention. A valver like that disclosed in the patent to Bateset al. for method and apparatus for severing and valving bags,1,623,228, issued April 5, 1927, is suitable for use with the presentinvention, although any other valver which would accomplish the samepurpose may be substituted therefor.

Upon frame 18 there is mounted. a table 23 on a lower plane than table21. Alongside oi table 23 there is another valving device 24, thevalving device 24 having the valving mechanism at the receiving end ofthe apparatus instead of at the other end of the apparatus, as arrangedin valving device 22. The arrangement of valving devices 22 and 24-might be rever ed without changing the result. An upper table 25 ismounted on frame 18 in the same plane with table 21, and a similar lowertable is mounted on frame 17 in a plane with table 23.

Mounted on bracket 11 in bearings 12 there is a main drive shaft 26.Longitudinal drive shafts 27 and 28 are mounted in frames 17 and 18respectively, and are driven from drive shaft 26 by bevel gears 29 and30 respecti'vely.

. Mounted upon brackets 11 and upon brackets l1 on bases 13 and 14:,there are brackets 31 adapted to support feed rollers for feeding bagsto the lower valver.

Brackets 32 mounted upon bracket 31 sup port feed rollers for feedingbags to the upper valver.

The rollers mounted in bracket 31 comprise a lower receiving roller 33,a mating upper roller 34, a lower delivering roller 35 and a matingupper roller 36. A chain 37 leading from a cutti or delivering machine,not shown, operates tlie shaft carrying roller 33, and roller 34 isdriven from roller 33 by gears 38. Chains 39 drive front rollers 35 and36 from rear rollers 33 and 34 respectively. In Fig. 2 these rollers areshown feeding a bag 40 towards the lower valver.

Switch fingers 41 are pivoted above and. to the rear of receivingrollers 33 and 34, and are operated in timed relation with the bedelivering machine by means of a rod 42. en the bags are to be deliveredto the lower valver the rear ends of fingers 41 are raised. out of thepath of the bag, as shown in Fig. 2,

and then are lowered into the path of the an upper roller 44. Roller 43is driven by a chain 45 from roller 33, while roller 44 is driven fromroller 43 by means of gears 46.

A bag 47 is fed into position on the table of the upper valver. In thesomewhat diagrammatic section shown in Fig. 5, the bag is shown beingfed into position. It will beseen that a pipe 48 is in position to blowagainst the side of the bag. The side is provided with a gusset which isspread apart by the blast of air from pipe 48 so as to pass over a fin49 attached to the casing of valver 22. Table 21 has a beveled edge 50beneath fin 49 for receiving the downwardl spread gusset; It will beunderstood that 1; 1e thickness of the bag, of fin 49 and of bevel 50are exaggerated for purposes of illustration in Fig. 5. The blow-pipeand fin are for the purpose of spreading apart the gusset so that theend thereof will be in position to enter between clamping members 51 ofthe valving device and pass outside of spreading members 52 of thevalving device, these members 51 and 52 corresponding to similar membersdisclosed in the patent identified above.

Beneath table 25 there is a bracket 53 (see.

Fig. 4) having a slideway 54 in which there reciprocates a rod 55. Ahook 56 is attached to the end of rod 55 and reciprocates in a slot 57in the table. A pin 58 projecting from the hook rides upon a block 59and supports the end of the hook so that it projects slightly above thetable when in its position towards the valver. A spring 60 normallydraws the rod and hook away from valver 22, but a roller 61 on the endof the rod contacts a cam 62 on shaft 63, which cam drives the rodtowards the valver at appropriate times. i A cam 64 on shaft 26 isconnected to a rod 65 which operates a lever 66 fulcrumed' at 67 upon astationary support. Lever 66 is connected to an upper lever 68 fulcrumedat 69 upon the same support and connected to a rod 70 which operates avalver-actuating lever 71.. The manner in which the lever 71 may operatethe valving mechanism will be readily understood from the aboveidentified patent.

, and carries a cam roller 78 in posit-ion to be actuated by a cam 7-9on a shaft 80.

Roller 74 is driven by means of a chain 81 from shaft 28, while gears 82drive roller 73 from roller 74. Roller 72 is connected by a chain 83with roller 73.

A chain 84 drives shaft 63 from shaft 28, and chain 85 drives shaft 80from shaft 63.

A blow-pipe 86'is adapted to open the gusset of bag 87 as it is fed intoposition upon ihe lower valver, as will readily appear from A cam 88upon shaft 26 operates a rod 89 leading to a lever 90 adapted to actuatevalver 24.

For the most part, the driving mechanism and take-off rollers, etc.,connected with the lower valving mechanism are either identical withthose of the upper valving mechanism as described above, or so closelysimilar thereto that separate description is not necessary. Except wherethe separate parts of the lower valving mechanism have been separatelydescribed above, their parts are given the same -reference numerals assimilar parts of the upper valving mechanism described above with theaddition of the letter a thereto.

The valving tables may be covered, if desired, with sheet metal faceplates 91, so as to cover any spaces between the separated tablesextending from the two side frames, and to form a substantiallycontinuous support for the bags.

If desired, a second pair of upper rollers 92 may be mounted in bracket32 and driven from roller 44 by means of chain 93. Bolts 94 may bemounted upon rollers 44 and 92 so as to intercept the upper end of a bagand insure its entrance between rollers 43 and 44.

An upper supporting plate 95 may be mounted above each side frame andconnected to bracket 32 by means of bolts 96, which may pass throughelongated slots in plate 95 so as to allow adjustment of the frameslongitudinally of the apparatus. Side frame 17 has its supportingmeTnbers so arranged as to provide a free passage to the left of thelower valving mechanism as viewed in Figs. 1 and 3.

In the above description the feed rollers and take-off rollers have beendescribed as though they were continuous, but it will be readilyunderstood that each may be made in separate sections if desired. In thedrawings these rollers are shown as being each in two sections. Only onehook 56 has been described, but it will be readily understood that asmany as desired may be used, two being shown in the drawings.

The operation of the device may be understood from the foregoingdescription, but for convenience the operations will be described inconsecutive order.

The apparatus disclosed in the drawings is intended for use with acutting or feeding apparatus adapted to deliver bags in a substantiallycontinuous stream, alternate bags being suitable for having valvesfolded in on differently located corners. Any desirable till ' hooks 56are feeding device may be utilized, but the ap paratus is particularlydesigned for operation with a tube cutting machine similar to that shownin my co-pending application Serial. No. 210,902, filed August 5, 1927.

As indicated during the description, the feed rolls are intended to bedirectly driven from the cutting or delivering machine, and likewise theguiding fingers ll are oscillated in timed relation with the deliveringmechanism. Main drive shaft 26 is also driven in timed relation with thedelivering means in any suitable .manner. Obviously the feed rolls andthe guide fingers might also be driven from the drive shaft 26 insteadof directly from the delivering means, if such method of driving werefound more convenient.

It will be readily understood that as the bags are fed from the cutterin a substantially continuous line they are delivered alternately to thelower and upper set of feed rollers. Preferably the feed. rollers arerun at such a speed that they move the bags somewhat more rapidly thanthe movement of the tube entering the cutter, so that there is asutricient space between successive bags to allow for the separation ofalternate bags into different paths. p

In the position of the mechanism shown in the drawings, bag 4-7 has justbeen fed into position on the upper valver, ready for the valviugoperation. The bag on the lower valver has had its corner tucked in, andis ready to be discharged. It will be seen that hook 56 has been movedto the left, as viewed in Fig. 3, and pin58 has ridden down on theslanting end of block 59* so that it is beneath the table and no longerinterferes with lateral movement of the bag. Cam 79 has lowered roller76 so as to press the bag down upon the constantly moving roller 72.This immediately results in the bag being moved sidewise away from thevalver and towards rollers 7 3 and 7 4*, which receive it and dischargeit to the left of the apparatus, as viewed in Figs, 1 and 3..

This operation takes place in time to move the bag on the table out ofthe wa of the end of the oncoming bag 87. Imme iate'ly after the forwardend of the oncoming he passes rollers 35 and 36, the gusset in the si eof the bag is spread by a blast of air from pipe 86. As a'matter of factit is preferable to place rollers 35 and 36 sufficiently far from theedge of the bag so that the gusset may begin to I spread before it haspassed the vertical plane passing through the axes of the rollers. Thebag continues to move forward untll it is discharged from rollers 35and36, whereupon it is in proper position longitudinally of table 23. Inorder to insure'its being positionedsnugly against the valver casing, soas to be properly positioned laterally of table 23,

riven by cams '62 against the left side of the bag, as viewed in Fig. 3.Immediately after the be is thus properly positioned with respect .to t1e valver, cam 88 operates to actuate the valver and told in the cornerof the bag, in a manner which will be readily understood from thedisclosure in the above cited patent. Thereafter the bag is dis chargedin the same manner as previously described. In the meantime, andstarting immediately with the position in which the parts are shown inthe drawing, the upper valver is actuated by cam (i l and the cornertucked in to form the valve. Thereafter hooks 56 are slid to the rightand downwardly and rollers 76 are lowered so as to move the bag to theright out of the path of the oncoming bag 1-0, which is guided u ward hyfingers 41 to feed rolls 43 and 44:. eed rolls a3 and l-i move the baginto position longitudinally of tile upper tables, and hooks 56 are thenactuated to push it snugly against the valver casing. Immediately afterthe eud'of the bag passes rollers 43 and 4A, a blast of air from pipe 48opens the usset of the bag so that it will slide over guiding fin 49 andenter be tween clamps 51 and move on outside of spreading members 52 ofthe valving device.

Air may be supplied continuously to pipes 48 and 86 if desired, but itis preferable to employ a valve which permits a discharge of air at thetime needed and shuts oil the supply at other times. Such a valve forpipe 48 is indicated at 97 on Fig. l, and may be actuated in propertimed relation by shaft The valve of pipe 86 may be similarly operated,though it is more convenient because of the location of this pipe tooperate its valve from shaft 28, by means not shown, instead offrom'shaft 80.

It will be seen that by directing alternate bags into different paths,one above the other, and discharging them sidewise from the valver, I amable to maintain a substantially constant stream of bags from the cutterinto the valver'and thus perform the valving operation without anyinterference with the continuous passage of the tube through the cutter.It will be readily understood that in folding in a corner of a gussetedbag in the manner disclosed in the aforementioned patent, a portion ofthe bag material is bent into such a position that it could not moveonward past the spreading device. For this reason the bag which has avalve folded in at its forward end must necessarily be moved away fromthe valver sidewise or in a rearward direction. For this reason thedischarge sidewise from the upper valver, or the valver which folds inthe forward corner of the bag, is necessarily sidewise from the valver.In the device shown the lower valver is arranged to fold in the rearcorner of the bag. In order to simplify constructionby the use ofsubstantially duplicate arts, the bag is discharged'sidewise from tliilower valver also, but it is obvious that it would be entirely possibleto continue the motion of the lower bzu endwise away from the valver iffound desirable. Take-oil rollers similar to those disclosed could beemployed for thus moving the bag endwise if such movement werepreferred.

It will be clear also that the lower valver might be constructed tovalve the forward corner of the bag while the upper valver tucked in therear corner of the bag, if such arrangement should be more convenientunder any circumstances.

If preferred, the upper valver might be placed on a level with the planein which the bags are fed from the cutter or bag delivering machine, andalternate bags deflected downward to the lower valver; or the bags mightbe delivered on a plane midway between the valvers and deflected firstdownward and then upward.

Variou other changes may be made in the manipulation of the bags and inthe apparatus for performing those manipulations without departing fromthe scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is: I

1. The method which consists in feeding longitudinally a substantiallycontinuous succession of tube lengths, deflecting successive lengthsinto separate paths while still running longitudinally, and tucking inone corner of each length to form a valve while it is in one of saidpaths.

2. The method which consists in feeding forward longitudinally asubstantially con tinuous succession of tube lengths, ditferent lengthshaving differently placed corners adapted to be tucked in to formvalves, while the lengths are still running longitudinally deflectingthem into separate paths so that the lengths in each path have likecorners adapted to he tucked in to form valves, halting each lengthtemporarily while in its re spective path, tucking in a corner of eachlength to form a valve while the length is halted, and removing thelength in time to make way for the next succeeding length fed into thatpath.

'3. The method which consists in feeding forward a substantiallycontinuous succession of lengths, deflecting successive lengths intopaths in different vertical planes, and tucking in one corner of eachlength to form a valve while in its respective path.

4. The method which consists in feeding forward a substantiallycontinuous succession of lengths, deflecting successive lengths intopaths in ditferent vertical planes, halting each length while in itsrespective path, tucking in one corner to form a valve, and thereaftermoving the length forward in time to make room for the next lengthdeflected into that path.

5. The method which consists in feeding a substantially continuoussuccession of lengths of tube longitudinally, deflecting successivelengths into paths in diti'erent vertical planes, halting each lengthwhile in its respective path, tucking in one corner to form a valve, andthereafter moving the length sidewise from its valving position in timeto make room for the next length fed into said path.

6. In combination, means to feed a series of tube lengths in line, meansto deflect successive lengths from the line into paths in differentvertical planes, and means in each plane to tuck in one corner of eachsuccessive length without interrupting oncoming lengths.

7. In combination, means to feed a series of bag lengths in line, meansto deflect successive lengths alternately to an upper and lower path,means in one path for tucking in a forward corner of each length passingthrough that path, and means in the other path for tucking in a rearcorner of each length passing through that path.

8. In combination, means to feed forward a series of bag lengths inline, means to separate successive lengths and feed them forward inpaths in d-itferent vertical planes, means for valving each length whilein its respective plane, and means for delivering each length sidewisefrom the valving device.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name to thisspecification.

CARL H. HARTMAN.

